A Prince in flames
by Sir Nicholas
Summary: Zuko confronts his father, Fire Lord Ozai. Novelization of my favorite scene. I don't own Avatar. Please comment, I worked hard on this.


The iFlying Dutchman/i had overtaken yet another unfortunate vessel

Zuko, the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, heir to the throne walked down the aisle of the well-manicured halls leading up to his father's throne room. His twin swords in their sheaths, hanging loosely at his back, gently swaying as the Prince took step after step towards the doors. Finally, when he was but within an arm's length of the knockers, he stopped.

Taking a deep breath, Zuko gathered his courage, taking a long moment to sort out all of those feelings that had been pent up for so long. "I'm ready to face you." The Prince said to himself. Though he'd spent the greater part of three years preparing for this moment, he still didn't feel ready for it.

Finally, when he felt as ready as he ever would, Zuko grasped one of the door's handles and opened them widely. Inside, a squad of royal guards stood between him and his father, Fire Lord Ozai, who sat tall on his throne, sipping a cup of tea. Ozai was dressed in his usual attire; fiery, red and bronze robe with a gold, five-pronged, fire-shaped headpiece.

By the look of the squad, the guards were the most elite force in the nation: The deadliest fighters the Fire Nation could spare. Regimented, disciplined to the point of fanaticism and armored from head-to-toe, the guards stood ready to defend their master with unquestioning loyalty.

"Prince Zuko...what are you doing here?" Ozai asked, lowering his cup to the side. "I'm here to tell the truth." Zuko replied, a sound of boldness in his tone, righteous anger burning in his golden eyes as he took several steps forward, stopping at a stone's throw from the older man.

"Telling the truth during the middle of an eclipse...this should be interesting." The Fire Lord said. And, just like that, with just a flick of the wrist, the guards turned about face and took their leave from the room, as obediently as a pack of trained Dogs.

"First of all, in Ba Sing Se, it was Azula who took down the Avatar...not me." Zuko admitted first. "Why would she lie to me about that?" Ozai asked, slowly putting the cup down to the side.

"Because the Avatar isn't dead; he survived."

Ozai's eyes opened widely at this comment, his expression showed a mix of both fear and rage.

"WHAT!?"

Zuko stood, unfazed at his father's tone, no longer the frightened little boy who wanted only to impress the man who showed him no love. "In fact, he's probably leading this invasion; he could be on his way here right now." Zuko said in a, as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"GET OUT!!" Ozai yelled, rising from his seat and clenching his fists. "You'll get out of my sight right now if you know what's good for you!" Zuko's eyes narrowed in resolve, "That's another thing: I'm not taking orders from you anymore." He said boldly.

As you can imagine, Ozai, not being the most understanding type, didn't exactly take his son's insubordination too well. "You will obey me..." Ozai said slowly and venomously, each word contained undertones of thinly, veiled hostility, "...Or this defiant breath will be your last!!"

Zuko took this moment to make a stand; drawing both swords and holding them threateningly at the Fire Lord. "Think again!" He challenged, "I'm going to speak my mind, and you are going to listen!"

Ozai slowly, if somewhat grudgingly obliged and sat back down. Zuko cleared his throat and spoke up. "For so long, all I wanted was for you to love me: To accept me." He said, "I thought it was my honor I wanted, but really, I was just trying to please you." Then, the Prince held one blade out towards Ozai, then, he felt the pent up memories of the resentment and fears of his cruel father slowly begin to appear in his mind.

"You! My father, who challenged me, a 13 year old boy to an Agni Kai, just for talking out of term!" Zuko said, the images of Ozai burning his face, giving him the scar he now wore like a badge of honor filling his mind.

"How can you possibly justify a duel with a child!!" He demanded, Ozai's face cringing in anger at the defiance and boldness of Zuko's words. "It was to teach you respect!" The Fire Lord retorted. Zuko clenched his teeth at this statement, "It was cruel!" He replied, "And it was wrong!"

"Then you've learned nothing!" Ozai snapped.

"No! I've learned everything!" Zuko replied, the spark of righteous anger now erupted into a flame that was evident even to the callous man sitting before him. "Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in History," Zuko said, now realizing how much of a fool he was the past two years.

"We were taught somehow, the war was our way of sharing our prosperity with the rest of the world." He paused, reflecting on seeing the innocent people's faces when he'd watched a platoon of Fire Nation soldiers burn down their homes, seeing the fear in their eyes.

"What an amazing lie that was!" He declared, "The people of the world are terrified by the Fire Nation! They don't see our greatness! They hate us, and we deserve it!" The stinging truth of his words was enough to make Ozai flinch lightly, though, despite the obvious truth of the boy's words, he felt no remorse whatsoever.

"We've created an era of fear in the world, and if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to replace it, with an era of peace...and kindness." Zuko said, allowing his tone to soften near the end, allowing Ozai a brief respite to take that in. However, Ozai only laughed darkly. "Your uncle's gotten to you, hasn't he?" He asked, remembering his much, more light hearted, easy-going brother, Iroh.

"Yes..." Zuko responded, his heart swelling with righteousness. "He has!"

Ozai had a particular look of displease at this statement.

"After I leave here today I'm going to free Uncle Iroh from his prison and I'm going to beg for his forgiveness." Zuko said, "He's the one who's been a real father to me." His grip on his twin blades tightened.

Ozai laughed again, that callous, evil laughter filled the chamber, reverberating on the flame-decorated walls.

"Oh that's just beautiful, and maybe he can pass down the ways of tea and failure!" He taunted.

Zuko looked at Ozai with remorseless valor. "But I've come to an even more important decision: I'm going to join the Avatar, and I'm going to help him defeat you."

"Really?" Ozai asked, smiling in a particularly nasty way. "Since you're a full blown traitor now and you want me gone, why wait?" He asked mockingly, "I'm powerless; you've got your swords, why don't you just do it now?"

Zuko looked determined at this question. "Because I know my own destiny, taking you down is the Avatar's destiny...not mine." He said before sheathing his swords. Zuko turned and faced the doorway, "Goodbye," he muttered before walking off, leaving his father hanging.

"Coward!!" Ozai yelled, "You think you're brave enough to face me but you'll only do it during the Eclipse!" He mocked, though Zuko ignored him. "If you have any real courage you'll stick around till the sun comes out." Despite the hatred in his voice, the Prince paid no attention to his words.

"Don't you want to know what happened to your mother?" Ozai asked, the Prince stopping right in his tracks before turning to face the tyrant, causing Ozai to smile. "What happened that night!?" Zuko demanded.

"My father, Fire Lord Azulon, had commanded me to do the unthinkable to you, my own son, and I was going to do it." Ozai said; the words weighing heavily down on Zuko's heart. "Your mother found out and swore she would protect you at any cost." Zuko angrily took this in, though it was no surprise, considering what methods Ozai would go to, even to sacrifice his own wife. Yet, despite this, he fought to hold back his tears.

"She knew I wanted the throne and she proposed a plan, a plan in which I would become Fire Lord and your life would be spared." Ozai said, causing Zuko to narrow his eyes. "Your mother did treasonous things that night, she knew the consequences and accepted them, and for her treason, she was banished." The Fire Lord finished.

The tears that he'd fought back minutes before now flowed down Zuko's face, unhindered. "So she's alive," He said hopefully. Ozai shrugged.

"Perhaps, now I realize banishment is far too merciful a penalty for treason, your penalty will be far steeper..." he said, closing his golden eyes. Zuko felt a bad feeling grow in his gut as he watched his father's hands ball into fists.

Ozai then reopened his eyes and fired a continuous blast of pure lightning at the Prince. Zuko caught the lightning in his hands, channeling the Electricity through his body. Using the same technique that Iroh had taught him, the lightning rebounded off Zuko and shot back towards the Fire Lord. Ozai's eyes opened wide in horror as he was struck with the very blast he'd fired. The tyrant yelped in pain as the lightning sent him flying backwards before he slammed into the wall with tremendous force.

With his eyes now glowing with anger, and the tapestry which hung behind him now in flames, Ozai seethed with rage at the sight of his son racing out the door faster than he could react. Prince Zuko, now an official enemy of the Fire Nation, abandoned by the man he'd once called his father, ran away, every step taking him closer to his destiny.


End file.
